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Moral Ambiguity and The Media

For the most part, the majority of movies produced these days, plus a great number of TV dramas appeal to the lowest common denominator in terms of morality and aesthetics. This means that for people who are attempting to respond to the whispers of the soul the more primitive urges of the personality are dominating, as portrayed visually through the media.

What this essentially does is feed the instinctual, primitive subconscious the unenlightened ‘truths’ that it is incapable of objecting to, and therefore believes. A recent commercial on TV for the program, Dexter, showed the dreamlike image of the main character fading in and out, like it was part of our own images that float through our subconscious. His voice said: am I a bad guy doing good, or am I a good guy doing bad? Then, in a voice that made it sound like a true inner reflection, as though coming from ourselves, he said, ‘I need to kill somebody.’ What this kind of message does is program the subconscious with what the subconscious can only accept as a truth, for it cannot reason. The subconscious can not filter what is truth and what is illusion.

This kind of programming either reinforces some primitive urges or contradicts some moral values, creating in some a real moral ambiguity. So whenever some people get sufficiently challenged and are in a state of extreme fear or powerlessness, that programming can surface as an inner directive. This would occur under severe stress when the primitive part of the brain controls and the frontal area where moral decisions are made is shut down.

The less aware we are when we hear such destructive messages in any media, the greater is its affect on our subconscious. And when we watch TV or a movie, we are often in an altered state in which the brain is producing more alpha brainwaves. This makes the brain and the subconscious highly receptive to whatever it is exposed to, and less critical in viewing it. There is a closer identification with what is being viewed, and a greater acceptance of it as real. This identification increases when there is emotional content as well that a viewer relates to.

We need to be vigilant about what we expose ourselves to. We need to make choices of the influences we want in our life. In order to make wise choices we need to know what our values are, what our morality is. A key to guide us is a deep sense of morality (essential goodness) and aesthetics (essential beauty). When we relate to something as beautiful then we want to augment its influence. When there is no beauty for us, this is a sign to avoid it. And since inner beauty is a soul presence, we are then guided by the soul sensitivity we have. There is no greater standard for personal morality than this.

 

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